Walter Beaumont

Walter Beaumont was born on 21 March 1914 in Dewsbury, Yorkshire. He read for a science degree at Goldsmiths’ College in London and trained at the Carnegie Physical Training College in Leeds, then taught at Enfield Grammar School. Flying with the London University Air Squadron led him into the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve in January 1937, and he was commissioned as a pilot officer in December 1939. Posted to No. 152 Squadron, he flew Supermarine Spitfires from Acklington and later Warmwell through the Battle of Britain. Over a few intense weeks in August 1940 he became an ace, claiming Messerschmitt Bf 109s, Junkers Ju 87s and Ju 88s and a shared Heinkel He 111, surviving at least one ditching in the sea off Portland. His final tally reached around eight enemy aircraft destroyed. On 23 September 1940 he failed to return from a sortie over the English Channel and was presumed killed. He was awarded a posthumous Distinguished Flying Cross and, having no known grave, is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial.